SouthCoast gets a little wet, but nothing wild from storm

SouthCoast can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Wednesday's storm was no Fourth of July.

Unlike the Independence Day deluge that drowned some parts of the region with up to 8 inches of rain, the latest weather-maker was no big deal.

In fact, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Taunton said Wednesday night that the rainfall total at the New Bedford Regional Airport was barely a half-inch.

However, other parts of Massachusetts received considerably more, with the western part of the state getting as much as 5 inches, the weather service reported.

But the jackpot this time was on New York's Long Island where forecasters said a record-breaking 13 inches of rain fell Wednesday morning, with more than 5 inches of that coming in just one hour.

SouthCoast didn't see anything remotely like that, but that doesn't mean things weren't soggy for a while.

Heavy winds and torrential rain earlier in the day hampered travel on the region's roadways and area police reported some street flooding. During the late morning, winds gusted above 30 mph in some locales.

State Police urged motorists to use caution.

“If there's flooding, you need to pay particular attention to the roads,” said Sgt. Sammy Durden. “Obviously people need to be aware of the traffic around them and reduce your speed due to hydroplaning.”

Now that the storm has passed, it should be clear sailing — and driving — for the next few days with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s, the weather service said.